Friday, December 5, 2008

M a r e b i t o

Japan 2004



Masuoka (Shinya Tsukamoto), a fragile cameraman who's afraid of the unknown that he's certain lurks around every corner, is the last person one would expect to rise to the occasion when courage is needed. But that he does when he winds up with an assignment that has him looking into an urban myth about specters that supposedly haunt Tokyo's subterranean travel system in this fantastical film directed by Takashi Shimizu.
7/10



I put this one off for awhile based on many reasons which none are very important to anyone other than myself. This horror film is definitely an interesting Kubrick impressionable vampire story with an underlining hitchcockian subplot about the degeneration of a man struggling to understand the unknown ancient wisdom of sheer terror in the balance of his own created delusional reality and an interpretive subterranean world for which he yearns to return, unknowingly. Or something like that. Shot on digital video going back and forth to the main character's hand held camera that never leaves his side, I am surprised I was not annoyed by this voyeuristic tactic to make things seem more real. Which I do not really think was Shimizu's intention anyway."Marebito" is an unconventional and creepy, almost atmospheric, downward spiral of twisted self absorption.

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